feudalism.jpgexternal image moz-screenshot-1.jpg
This is a photo of a less powerful person paying his respects to his king. This is a good example of feudalism. in feudalism, a lord granted his land to a vassal, who pledged allegiance to the lord, like the person in this picture. The lord provided protection while the vassal gave the lord some of his harvest. The serfs harvested the fields of the manor, but they did get to plant some for themselves The system of feudalism arose because in the middle ages, Europe was full of war and people needed protection. Feudalism also created 4 distinct classes: The King, Lord, Vassal, and Serf. In this system, the king had the most power and the serf had the least, but there were much more serfs than kings and lords.
black_death.jpg
This is a painting of a plague victim being treated by a doctor. During the plague, many people believed it was spread by smell, so doctors treated victims by making them smell sweet aromas. However, this didn't work. the plague caused the economy to crash. This happened because there were much fewer workers, and the workers who survived wanted to be paid more. This caused many farmers to turn to sheep raising instead of harvesting crops. This also caused kings to lose money, food and power. The disease caused many people to question the church and also turn to bizarre religions to prevent themselves from getting the disease.
crusades.jpg
This is a painting of the First Crusade during the siege of Jerusalem in 1099. The original purpose of the crusades was to capture the holy land, but several other benefits came from the crusades. First of all, there was increased trade. This happened because the knights would trade with the Muslims after they realized they weren't so evil. Then, they would take the cargo they received from the Muslims and sell it in Europe for a large profit. Also, controlling Jerusalem meant more power and land. Capturing Jerusalem also was good for the church because now Christians controlled the birthplace of Christ. But every time the crusades captured the holy land, they were eventually kicked out by the Muslims.
Works Consulted

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